Swimming and Diving
- Title:
- Diving Coach
- Email:
- labernet@calpoly.edu
Laurel Abernethy was named the head diving coach at Cal Poly in August 2023, and took over director of operation duties for the Mustang swimming and diving program entering the 2024-25 season.
In Abernethy's first season overseeing the Cal Poly diving program in 2023-24, five top-five marks in school history were recorded on the diving board, highlighted by San Luis Obispo native Justin Dolezal recording top-five marks in all three men's dives — the platform, 1-meter and 3-meter.
At the 2024 MPSF Championships, Dolezal took third in the 1-meter, fifth in the platform and eighth in the 3-meter, and his third place finish in the 1-meter dive was the highest individual finish by a Cal Poly men's diver at the meet since the program joined the MPSF in 2014-15.
Last season, Madden Saini also earned the second highest individual finish in school history by a Cal Poly men's diver at the MPSF Championships by capturing fourth in the men's 3-meter.
Abernethy came to Cal Poly after spending two seasons (2021-23) as a volunteer assistant diving coach at her alma mater, BYU. She also served as the head development coach for the BYU Cougar Dive Club for seven years.
At the 2023 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Diving Championships, Abernethy helped BYU score the most points in the conference on the diving board and win three of the six MPSF individual titles. The Cougars’ performance in diving allowed the men to place first as a team and the women third.
In college, Abernethy had plenty of success on the diving board herself. She was a six-time West Athletic Conference finalist on the 1-meter and 3-meter springboards while competing for the BYU diving team from 1990-94.
After wrapping up her career at BYU, Abernethy immediately got into coaching, mentoring a pair of NCAA standouts in Aaron Russell (BYU) and Danny Bergman (Nebraska). Then she began coaching for the Capital Divers in the Sacramento area, overseeing countless high-level high school divers that went on to capture league and CIF section championships, including Jake Crayne, who qualified for the Olympic Trials and was an All-American at Utah.
Abernethy, who lived in Sacramento for almost 20 years, also served as a volunteer assistant at UC Davis from 2012-16.
Abernethy’s husband, Glenn, was a two-time conference champion in the 200 backstroke at BYU, and two of their three children also competed for the Cougar swimming and diving team. Her daughter, Kaitee, was a diver for BYU for two years, while her son, Matt, was a swimmer for the Cougars. Her other son, Boyd, is a professional Jiu Jitsu fighter.
